Acesulfame potassium (“Acesulfame-K”) has an intense, sweet taste and has been used in many food-related applications. In conventional acesulfame-K production processes, sulfamic acid and an amine, e.g., triethyleamine, are reacted to form an amidosulfamic acid salt. As one example, the amidosulfamic acid salt may be a trialkyl ammonium amidosulfamic acid salt. The amidosulfamic acid salt may then be reacted with diketene to form an acetoacetamide salt. The acetoacetamide salt may be cyclized, hydrolyzed, and neutralized to form the Acesulfame-K. U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,010 discloses an exemplary acesulfame-K production process.
Typically, to initiate and efficiently maintain the reaction under production-scale conditions, acetic acid is added to the sulfamic acid and amine. The acetic acid may form a corresponding ammonium acetate salt, which may promote the acetoacetylation reaction that forms the acetoacetamide salt. The sulfamic acid (and in some cases acetic acid) create acidic reaction conditions, which may drive down pH of the reaction mixtures, e.g., to a pH level less than 5.5. In some cases, e.g., to create a more neutral environment, amine may be added to the reaction in amounts greater than the stoichiometric amounts, e.g., the reaction is conducted in an excess of amine. This use of excess amine and the accompanying increase in pH, however, may cause coloration problems in the resultant acetoacetamide salt.
Even in view of the conventional processes, the need exists for an improved acesulfame-K production process that utilizes smaller amounts of reactants, e.g., acetic acid and/or amine, and produces a high quality acesulfame-K product at improved yield rates.
All of the references discussed above are hereby incorporated by reference.